Thank you Zen Studios for sending us this DLC to review!

Williams and Bally have made some amazingly fun pinball tables. I’m glad that Zen Studios has lovingly digitized them along with providing enhanced versions. The classic appearance is available for pinball enthusiasts. I’ve enjoyed all of the Williams recreations so far and was initially disappointed that this DLC pack contains two tables instead of three at the same price point. With that said, both of these tables are extremely well done and worth the premium price tag.

The two tables in this bundle are Monster Bash and Creature From The Black Lagoon. If you enjoy horror movies and the monsters within them, this bundle is for you!

Monster Bash was released in 1998 and had 3,361 tables produced. It brings together many popular horror movie monsters including Frankenstein (and his bride), The Mummy, Dracula, The Wolfman, and Creature From The Black Lagoon. Your goal in this table is to arouse and assemble the greatest monster band of all time and get them to perform the show of the century. The bride of Frankenstein makes several comments as you play and one of them talks about the monstrous size of Frankenstein’s organ. Just in case you’re wondering, he plays the keyboard so that joke likely has multiple meanings. The table has a lot of characters to interact with and is quite busy. There are two flippers and if you can trigger a multiball event, you can control up to four balls.

Creature From The Black Lagoon was released in 1992 and produced 7,841 units.  This drive-through theater date night themed table has two flippers and supports a 2-ball multiball mode. As you play you’ll be enticed to purchase snacks at the concessions stand and you’ll get to hear the conversations (and kissing) of various moviegoers. Naturally, there’s a van that’s too tall and annoying the people behind it.  Last but not least, is the Creature From The Black Lagoon who is nearby and not happy with all of the commotion.  How will your date end?

Just like the other Pinball FX3 tables, this DLC supports table upgrades, hot seat multiplayer, and challenge modes. The three challenge modes are 1 ball, 5 minutes, and survival mode. The goal in the one-ball challenge is to get the highest score possible with only one ball. If you lose the ball while the ball save light is illuminated, the ball is still saved, but if it's off, you're done for. After the ball is lost for good, your score is added to the global leaderboards and stars are earned depending upon how good of a score you received. The 5-minute challenge gives you an unlimited number of balls so you have plenty of opportunities to get a high score within the time limit. The survival mode gives you unlimited balls as well; however, if you don’t meet the score requirement in the time limit, your game will end.

Both of these tables are a blast to play and it will be fun to improve upon my online scores. Since these two tables are generous on their scoring, it doesn’t take much effort to get a score in the millions. After playing the digital remakes, I’d love to check out the originals someday. I can see why both tables are highly rated on pinball database sites. If you’re a fan of Williams tables, you should definitely add the Universal Monsters Pack to your Pinball FX3 collection.